Google is exploring pay-TV service in Kansas City

The citizens of the Kansas City metropolitan area may soon be watching a Google TV service on a Google TV that connects to the Web using Google Fiber.

Google's Google Fiber division filed applications Friday with both the Missouri Public Service Commission and the Kansas Corporation Commission to offer a pay-TV service that would challenge Time Warner Cable and satellite TV services in Kansas City.

So, you might be wondering, why Kansas City? Other than its fantastic barbecue, the city (one part in Kansas and another part in Missouri) is the first location in which the tech giant is building out the Google Fiber Internet service. The TV service applications were filed by Google Fiber head Milo Medin and, if approved, the TV service would be delivered over the same fiber optics as the unit’s Internet service.

Google Fiber, which is expected to launch in the first half of the year, will offer free broadband Web access for schools and paid Internet service options for consumers at speeds possibly as high as 1-gigabit, or about 100 times faster than the current average.

If Google's applications are approved and the pay-TV service is launched, the subscriber TV service paired with the fiber optic Internet service would give Google two new revenue streams.

Possibly more importantly for Google, the TV service would offer the company one more platform on which to sell advertisements. For now, Google hasn't decided whether it will launch a TV service, but the applications may give the Mountain View, Calif., company the option of trying it out.

"We're still exploring what product offerings will be available when we launch Google Fiber in Kansas City," Google spokeswoman Jenna Wandres said.